General utility bikes - how much gearing do you REALLY need?

[byegad]

I rode a Raleigh Shopper with just a SA 3 speed hub around Durham City in my younger days. I dropped the overall gearing with a smaller chainring and larger rear sprocket so 'top' gear was barely high enough to ride on the flat and the other two got me up the many short, steep hills of the city!

I doubt I'd be able to do it now, some 40 years later!

 

[Venod]

Another option is to run a single run up front and maybe 7/8 speed at the back, if not going hub gear. Then set that up to give you your general riding gears and add a small inner ring to the front. No shifter needed just change manually on those rare occasions you need an extra low gear.

I don't see any advantage in this set up, why not add a front derailleur and shifter if your adding a ring and sort your cassette to suit the setup, otherwise have a cassette that enables you to have a low gear with one ring.

 

[MacB]

I don't see any advantage in this set up, why not add a front derailleur and shifter if your adding a ring and sort your cassette to suit the setup, otherwise have a cassette that enables you to have a low gear with one ring.

It was a Sheldon Brown suggestion, keeping it simple but still allowing a bike to serve a wider purpose in a pinch. I think he liked a wide double, say 42/26, that either didn't work well with FDs available or he just didn't want the extra cable/shifter etc.

 

[mjr]

It gives you a bigger range of more closely stepped gears.

It all depends on what, where and how you ride as to how many gears suit you.

And with whom. If I take a 3-speed on a faster group ride, I end up remembering seeing Norton Rotaries racing Yamahas and Ducatis... it feels like it has completely different acceleration profile and cruising speeds, in my case due to the gear spacing and drivetrain efficiencies. The braking behaviour is also different, with neither of mine having dual-pivot calipers or discs, but that's mostly easier to manage the differences.

 

[classic33]

How long is a piece of string?

I do any utility riding on my six speed Brompton. Does me fine. Could I manage with fewer gears? Yes, sure but I wasn't aware that there was a worldwide gear shortage. Any bike I have, I always use all of the gears. Yes, even the daft 50/11 top gear on my audax bike gets used quite often.

But how many gears do I really need for utility riding? Well, one obviously would be the minimum that I need. It would have to be a low one, mind.

Been answered elsewhere on here, seek and ye shall find.

 

[tyred]

I rode a Raleigh Shopper with just a SA 3 speed hub around Durham City in my younger days. I dropped the overall gearing with a smaller chainring and larger rear sprocket so 'top' gear was barely high enough to ride on the flat and the other two got me up the many short, steep hills of the city!

I doubt I'd be able to do it now, some 40 years later!

The AW hub has it covered for most purposes. It's all about getting the gear right - something Raleigh didn't do at the factory as they were always ludicrously high.

With 46/22 on my 26 x 1 3/8" wheeled roadster giving 40, 56 and 72 inches, it works well for me, I've even gone touring on it with two panniers around the Causeway coast.